FLOODS HIT KASHMIR AGAIN, JHELUM CROSSES DANGER MARK

NEW DELHI: The Jhelum waters crossed the danger mark early Monday morning with the Mufti government facing its first crisis.

Schools were closed, residents living in low lying areas along the Jhelum were asked to move out, even as rescue operations were launched for many who were trapped inside their homes in the Budgam district in particular. Houses collapsed because of land erosion with the residents of Kashmir re-living last years nightmare where flash floods had engulfed and destroyed large tracts of the Valley.

Continuous heavy rain has caused fresh landslides along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway with the Kashmir Valley being cut off from Jammu and the rest of the country now for three consecutive days. The government has issued warnings, and asked people to stay in their homes although these too have become extremely unsafe.

Two National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 100 personnel have been rushed as part of contingency measures in what seems to be a replay of last year, with the youth forming rescue teams to save their families and neighbours across the Valley.

PTI reported that the two NDRF teams, comprising about 50 personnel each, were taken in an IAF plane from Bhatinda in Punjab to Srinagar.

“We have pre-positioned two of our teams in the Kashmir Valley in order to combat any situation in the wake of flood alert.”

“Four other teams at Ghaziabad and Bhatinda will be on standby," NDRF Director General O P Singh told PTI.

The DG said there was no need to panic and the force along with the state government is putting in all measures to tackle a possible flood situation.

Gushing water inundates village in Ganderbal district (ANI)

The residents are panicking, with The Citizen receiving several queries from Kashmiris outside the Valley who are not being to call home. The fear of large scale erosion in the bands that had sent in the waters into even Srinagar with the ferocity of a tornado, is growing. More so, as many hit by the flood waters last year have still not been able to pick up life to the point of re-starting their businesses and reconstructing their destroyed homes.

Rain water flows into residential areas in low lying areas of Kashmir. (Photo: ANI Twitter)